The disclosed subject matter relates to unmanned vehicles or optionally manned vehicles, systems and methods for controlling unmanned vehicles or optionally manned vehicles. More particularly, the disclosed subject matter relates to systems and methods for estimating distance between unmanned vehicles or optionally unmanned vehicles; and systems and methods for estimating distance between unmanned or optionally manned vehicles, and obstacles.
An unmanned vehicle is a vehicle without a person on board, which is capable of sensing its surroundings and navigating on its own. The unmanned vehicle can operate in, but not restricted to air, water, land, and so forth. The unmanned vehicle can either be autonomous or remotely operated by an operator.
Optionally manned vehicles can be operated with or without a person on board. Optionally manned vehicles may enable manual testing of the vehicles before unmanned operation or allow manual control, if necessary, during an unmanned mode of operation.
Generally, unmanned vehicles are vulnerable to collisions with each other, and/or with obstacles present in their operational environments. These collisions may result from a lack of geographic information of the given obstacle and/or unpredictable environmental conditions. Further, a group of two or more unmanned vehicles may have increased likelihood of such collisions as each unmanned vehicle may be subject to similar changes in environmental conditions.